CaptainVulcan said: So... pretty. Seiga's based on a woman from Chinese folklore, right? Still not convinced that she's remotely evil, though.
Damn. She's a knockout.
Yes, Taoism folklore. She's based on Huò qīng é (which is the original Chinese pronunciation of Seiga's name) who is described as having a father who was fascinated with Taoism and went to the mountain to train, which is exactly what Seiga's backstory says. (Original passage: "同里有武評事者，好道，入山不返。有女青娥，年十四，美異常倫。") The name of his daughter was Qīng é, an abnormally beautiful maiden at fourteen years old.
Then here's the part about Seiga's family name. As spoken in the passage above, her original family name was different (武氏), but her husband's family name was Huò. This means Seiga changed her surname to that of her husband, which was considered equivalent as abandoning one's own parents in China during that time. Highly fitting for the twisted hermit Seiga is, isn't it?
Her name as a hermit, Seiga Nyan-nyan, isn't specified to be the same person as Huò qīng é, but ZUN seems to have made them the same for making Seiga. Seiga Nyan-nyan is also a figure mentioned in Taoism.
Wouldn't call her evil though. She's arrogant and flaunting, twisted and bewitching, but doesn't have intentions to harm anyone badly at least.
I'm still looking forward to the "really evil" Seiga description. Guess it's easier to twist a character if she's a really good-willed one than if she's rotten inside.
lastsinz said: Wasn't she the mastermind behind Miko's Taoism stuff? Not so clear on the details, but I think that's how it was?
She wasn't exactly the mastermind, but she was the cause. She as always boasted about her powers to Miko and started everything. I'm assuming she did play a large role to the treachery as an adviser of some sort though.
